After last week’s game in College Station, Abrams, who was held scoreless in the first half, was asked about the defense of Roland.

“Who?” Abrams replied.

The reporter responded by saying Roland’s name — and added “No. 3.”

“I still got my shots,” Abrams said. “I just didn’t knock them in. I’m not going to separate him from anybody else.”

On Monday, Roland busted into a big grin when I asked him about Abrams’ comments.

“If he didn’t think that was good defense then that’s fine, but in every game outside of me he’s been in double digits,” Roland said. “It took him two games to get into double digits against me — so that’s fine.”

Told he has a supporter in college basketball analyst Dick Vitale, who had mentioned that Roland had done such a good job on Abrams, Roland responded with a smile, “He’s a smart man.”

Meanwhile the 5-7 Aggies play at 6-6 Nebraska at 8:30 tonight on ESPN2 in a pivotal game for both programs, if they want to make the NCAA tournament.

“We need this game — we need all of these games from here on out,” said A&M forward Chinemelu Elonu, whose team won its first league road game on Saturday at Texas Tech. “Now we know we can win on the road, and we know that to get to the (NCAA tournament) we can’t afford to slip up.”